St. Patrick is one of the patron saints of Ireland. Many Irish people had told us American celebrations on St. Paddy's are larger than the Irish ones, but the Dublin festival did not disappoint. The St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin is part of a five-day festival; more than 650,000 people attended the 2008 parade. We think we saw more Americans and French than Irish! Lots of people traveled to Ireland to celebrate on the home turf; the immigration line at Dublin airport (non EU citizens) took one hour to clear!
We spent one night at Howth, an oceanside fishing village northeast of Dublin, where we visited the Howth castle, pier, farmers' market and Bull Island, where we watched some kite surfers. Then headed into the city centre on Sunday for my birthday and stayed at the 5-star Conrad Hotel (for free, thanks to Hilton points). We walked around Grafton Street and Temple Bar, had a couple pints of Guinness, then went to dinner at Itsa4 restaurant. They are known for their burgers, so we had to try them -- incredible -- and they should be at 18.95 euros a pop!
This was probably the best parade either of us have ever seen. The costumes were amazing. Everyone in the parade was dancing, smiling and having a good time. Nearly every band was from the United States, which was kind of cool. Unfortunately every pub was packed with people spilling out into the street, so we didn't get to have a Guinness in a Dublin pub on St. Paddy's, but we still had lots of fun. We listened to traditional Irish music at an outdoor concert near St. Stephen's Green park before heading back to Galway.
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